The Knicks are tough and grinding and elbow-throwing and being all the things they spent the off-season telling everyone they’d be, with no one believing them. At the beginning of this seven-game stretch with six on the road, we said a reasonable goal for the Knicks was to go 4-3. They’re now 3-1, with New Orleans tonight, Dallas on Wednesday, and Houston on Friday. It’s not reasonable to expect the Knicks to win all three. But the way this is going right now, it would be the furthest thing from a surprise. They don’t even have to play well to win, over good teams. This is really something.

For me, this has been easily the most exciting aspect of the Knicks’ fast start. It’s their ability to win — and win handily — while not playing their best ball. There have been times this year when the Knicks’ offense has been a free-flowing ballet, a festival of grace and style, and times when it has been something less artful. But they’ve won regardless of which it’s been.

New York’s won when they’ve shot well from the outside, and when they haven’t. They’ve won when Carmelo has been in superstar form, and on his off nights. It’s been truly impressive to see them generally run over a fairly formidable schedule while at times not playing all that well (As an aside, I’ve relied solely on my B-Game throughout my life with varying levels of success).

But given the 82-game marathon that is the NBA season, that’s what really good teams do. They find ways to win on off-nights, and are dominant when things go their way. The Knicks are looking like one of those teams.